In the current information society, information and knowledge products have beenplaying a more and more significant role in the economic, social and cultural developmentin any society. Frequent exchange of information among different countries results inlarge amount of foreign copyright legal relationships. The traditional territoriality ofcopyright has been challenged and the copyright law has gained the exterritorial effects inseveral countries. Under these circumstances, there exist unavoidably plenty of conflictsof laws in copyright and hence choice-of -law rules in copyright have developed. The aim of this article is to summarize a group of choice-of-law rules in copyrightby exploring different rules developed by legislative and judicial bodies and suggested byacademic intellectuals in various countries so as to pave the way for China's developmentin this area. Chapter one gives an introduction of the evolution of copyright system aroundthe world and the development of conflicts of laws in copyrights. Chapter two introducesand comments on the current choice-of-law rules in copyright and the challenges to theserules by the Internet. Applying the depecage, chapter 3 summarizes a group ofchoice-of-rules in copyright. Chapter 4 gives comments on the China's current lagislative,judicial and academic development in this area and makes some suggestions for its future III法å¦ç¡•士论文development. Based on different interpretations of the Article 5(2) of Berne Convention, severalchoice-of -law rules in copyright have been established by legislators, judges and scholarsin various countries. These rules include lex fori, lex protectionis, Lex originis, each ofwhich has different governing areas. Some countries have applied the general choice-of-law rules in foreign copyright cases rather than establishing special choice-of -law rulesin copyright. However, these rules are challenged by the popularity of Internet. How todefine the lex origins when the works are first publicized by Internet? Which is theappropriate rule governing Internet copyright infringement? Theses questions have beenraised and suggestions made by scholars in various countries. Actually, copyright legal relationships are rather complicated. They are composed ofcopyright existence, scope, duration, initial ownership and etc. And they are alsoconnected with contract and infringement. Therefore, depecage shall be adopted. Thefollowing rules are suggested: 1)the existence, scope, duration and transferability ofcopyright and the unlawfulness in copyright infringement shall be governed by the law ofthe place where the works are effectively used. 2) Initial ownership of copyright worksshall be governed by lex originis except works for fire, which should be governed by thelaws that govern the employment contracts. 3) Contractual aspects of transfer ofcopyright through exploitation licenses or assignment should be governed by the lawschosen by the parties; in absence of choice, they shall be governed by the law of the country withwhich the contract is most closely connected (based on characteristic performance). 4) The legalconsequences of the infringement shall be governed by the law expressly chosen by the parties; inabsence of choice, it shall be governed by the law of common place of residence or main place ofbusiness; in absence of above common place, it shall be governed by the law of the country mostclosely connected. IV法å¦ç¡•士论文 The development of choice-of -law rules in China is still at the threshold. Presently,insufficient legislation has, to some degree, caused turmoil in judicial areas. Generally,China insists in the absolute territoriality of copyright and does not acknowledge theexterritorial effect of copyright law. Courts in China usually apply domestic copyrightlaw based on B... |